Ada, I either do grow or have grown many of the flowers you listed, so here's a few comments. Amaranthus--I grow many kinds and they all sprout easily and grow well, even in areas where the yucky, heavy, red clay soil has not been improved at all. Most years my various amaranths reseed. Angelonia--performs very well even during the hottest parts of the summer. Black-eyed Susan Vine--grows well, self sows abundantly, and I've had the same results you have with the various colors. Butterfly Weed--grows very well here and truly is a butterfly magnet. We have them growing wild in the fencelines here near us. I have grown them in my cottage border too. Calendula 'Flashback' and the other calendulas I've grown have done very well. They are supposed to be more of a cool-season flower, but some years they have made it through most or all the summer as long as I have been able to keep them well-watered. Cleome 'Violet Qween'--grows fine here although it doesn't seem to reseed as prolifically as Rose Queen. I just grow taller flowers in front of it to hide the naked stalks, esp. as the summer goes on. This year, mine continued blooming in late November or early December because they were in a spot near the house where they got a little water every occasionally and sunlight/heat from a southward-facing wall. Cosmos--I've grown 15 or 20 kinds of cosmos here in southern OK and they've all grown more or less equally well. I haven't had any powdery mildew problems with them here, but then I don't have much rain or high humidity most years. Echinacea--grows well but not necessarily long-lived in my garden. Any individual plant may last 3, 4 or 5 years, but not forever. It tends to be our occasionally very rainy year that gets them, but then they are always planted in fairly unimproved clay soil. (I save the heroic amounts of soil prep for the veggies.) Gaillardia--At our house, it does best if I plant it in well-drained, compost-improved, sandier loam and not in the heavier clay. We have gaillardia here by the acre in our part of Love County, so I don't plant it much. It does, however, come up here and there from wind-scattered seed. Gazanias--Quick and easy from seed and tolerates really hot weather. Geranium--I grew them the first couple of years we lived here, but they really don't like our hot, dry summers so I haven't grown them since about 2001 or 2002. They always look great until late June or early July and then the struggle with the heat begins. Gomphrena--I've grown several kinds here, including Strawberry Fields, Purple Buddy and QIS Mix. My Strawberry Fields self-sows and comes up in the gravel driveway down by the road, about 200' from where I originally planted it. Some of the darker purple ones reseed also, but the paler lavender or lilac-colored ones have not reseeded. I get better germination when I presoak the seed for 24 hours before planting it. Heliotrope--I love the smell, but it does love our dry heat, so I don't grow it here. Hyacinth Bean Vine--I've grown these every year since we moved here, and for quite a few years before that. I love them, and they are edible, although I don't think they are as tasty as many other agricultural beans. Mine have reseeded for the last 4 or 5 years, so I don't bother saving seed to replant any more. I probably get more compliments on these plants than any other single plant I grow. Impatiens--Grew lots of them in Fort Worth, but only grew them the first year here. The wildlife ate them all to the ground, and I haven't grown them since. Larkspur--I've grown Imperial Mix for years and they reseed every year. Haven't tried the one from Park's that you mentioned. I have them in several places around the yard. Millet--I've from the Foxtail, the purple ornamental ones, and the common ones that sprout from henscratch that the hens and wildbirds miss. All grow equally well. If you have a problem with stink bugs in the veggie garden, plant millet close to, but outside the garden, as a trap crop and kill the stinkbugs when they flock to the millet. That way, you won't have to spray your veggie crops with anything. Nemesia--I don't grow it here because it doesn't handle July and August well. Nicotiana--I've grown every one of them that you can find seed for, and they grow great here. Langsdorfii likes a little more moisture and afternoon shade than sylvestris. Some nicotines reseed for me, and some don't. I've had them come up in the middle of pastures from seed blown from the garden, and they were some of the best-looking ones ever, even though they got no supplemental water and no care. Petunia--I'm just about done with all the standard petunias. They just struggle too much in July and August. There's two exceptions: Mexican Petunia and 'Laura Bush Pink' wild petunia and 'Laura Bush Purple' wild petunia. As far as I know, the Laura Bush wild petunias are only available as seed from Wildseed Farms in Texas. I raise mine from seed every year. They grow just fine in the heat, although they do best if you cut them back hard once or twice during the summer and let them regrow and reflower. Mine were in bloom from April through December, and even reseeded, both in containers and in the ground. I grow them in well-amended clay soil in full sub. I've grown plenty of other petunias from seed over the years, and had some of the Wave petunias in handing baskets on my wraparound porch for several years, but they just don't like our July/August heat in Love County. (Most years it is a fairly dry heat.) Rudbeckias grow better for me if I put them in the one bank of sandy soil that runs across our property. They've never done as well in the heavier clay soil I have on most of the place. We have native ones that grow just fine here, but a lot of the cultivated ones don't do quite as well. Salvia 'Victoria' grows very well. I haven't planted any in years, but the ones I planted in about 2001 or 2002 reseed every year and do just fine. Very long-blooming here. Bloomed into late Nov. or early Dec. this year in spite of some pretty cold nights (down in the teens). Sages--Most of the sages don't do well for me unless I put them in raised beds in very well-amended, well-drained soil. The exception is Texas Hummingbird Sage which grows very well despite the heat, gets huge, is a butterfly and bee magent, and reseeds everywhere. Sunflowers--I grow gazillions of them, and like to color-code them to the season--growing the paler yellow, peach and lime ones for late spring blooms, the golden yellows and orange (Soraya) for summer blooms, and the red, gold and orange (and bi-colors) for the fall. If you have a lot of sunflowers, you'll have to watch for the black-and-orange caterpillars that like to devour their foliage. Verbascum 'Southern Charm'--only did so-so here. It may not like my heavy clay or my hot summers, but my grandmother always loved verbascum and grew it in her sandier, more well-drained soil in Texas. Verbena bonariensis--a longtime favorite and it reseeds all over the place here most years. Some years I have to pull up hundreds of them because they come up as thick as grass if I didn't deadhead early enough the previous summer. These even come up in the middle of the pastures. I have the best luck surface sowing it outdoors in a covered container (winter sowing). Since it reseeds so prolifically, I've only grown it from seed twice here, and I wouldn't have planted it at all the second year if I'd realized how much it would reseed from the first year's plants. Vinca--I grow it every now and then, but not most years. It has a lot of disease issues here so I usually only grow it every 2nd or 3rd year. I grew it more when I lived in Texas and had better soil. It is really easy from seed though. Zinnia--I've grown all kinds of zinnias and they are my favorite flower. I like 'em in all sizes, shapes, and colors and they attract billions of butterflies. I've grown the entire 'Profusion' series ever since they first came out, and this year I'm going to add the Knee-High ones and the new double ones. They grow insanely well here and the only trouble they have is the occasional bout of powdery mildew in wetter years. I've never met )or grown) a zinnia I didn't like. I grow a large cottage border around the perimeter of my veggie garden and in various other areas around the yard. Because we have a large property, I only grow plants that are pretty tough and fuss-free. If they need pampering and lots of special care, I don't bother with them. Most of what I grow reseeds, although every few years I bring in new batches of seed (maybe the same flowers I already have, but in different colors, for example) to shake things up a little. It sounds like you have a lot of fun flower-growing planned for this year. Dawn

I had a midge in one of my feeders yesterday when I replenished the nectar in it. I think one of the reasons they do well here on the coast is that we DO have various insects in midwinter, many of which like the midge I found, are winter hatching aquatic insects. This would be a good reason to ditch the koi in your pond and go for a more natural type of pond, lol... I suspect smaller mayflies and cadis are also fairly important for them. In the garden though, a good compost pile will still produce fungus gnats and fruit flies and similar little bitty insects that the hummers prefer all winter long. The conifers tend to produce a nice hatching of mealybug and other kinds of little aphid type bugs this time of year too, and I do see the hummers chasing after them during one of their mating flights, or whatever it is when they decide to start flying all over. But there are quite a few winter flowers the hummers rely on, and they will defend them aggressively this time of year. Just come over to my house and watch for a while. The males especially are getting into their full formal breeding garb now, since they will be starting the breeding season soon, in the next month or so. The feeders are important too, and definitely defended by the more dominant birds, but I think the natural shrubs allow the sub-dominant and more vagrant birds who don't have a fixed territory here to sneak in more easily and get a little nectar when the bully birds are otherwise occupied. Still, chases are common here, sometimes right around your head if you dare to go out in their territory! My quince is I believe the old hybrid C. x superba, but an old "standard" variety, easily topping out at 10-12 feet tall now, and a little broader than that. Mind you, its around 50 years old at this point, planted when my parents moved into the house years ago. It was a house warming gift when they moved in here, and likely one of those "pass along" plants that had lost its name generations before my parents received it. Beautiful coral pink flowers, and no spines. I am still surprised each time I get pricked by a thorn on the more "normal" ones, since this is the one I grew up with, so I never think of them as being thorny, lol. The flowers are beautiful, and bees and other insects like them, I just don't see the hummer's do more than poke them curiously. Not like the red flowering currant, that gets constant and dedicated attention to every flower open. Mine isn't blooming yet either, but usually starts in "late winter", in maybe another month and a half or so? I'd have to check my records, but it's generally pretty early. Hellebores, sadly, are among the winter flowers I have never seen the hummers pay the slightest attention to. Their colors usually aren't even bright enough to get a curious probe or two, and ditto, rarely see bees on them either, so there is little to attract the hummers to them. Mine are late this year, I only have one even starting to show buds yet. One I keep meaning to watch a little closer is the winter box- Sarcacocca. They should be starting to bloom soon, and flower heavily enough to attract some attention if there is any nectar there. Mine just got moved however, and is sulking. No sign of flowers this year.

I live in SoCal and would suggest Yosemite book what you can now but know that Oakhurst is a good hour out of the valley Portola and Mariposa are closer. Leaving Portland I could easy spend 3 days on the road to SF and seeing SF Nights 4-5 Yosemite I would take at least two days in Yosemite to take a few short hikes and see Glacier Point, the valley and hopefully Mariposa grove (they were working on trails and had it closed last trip) Night 6 Lee Vining leaving, I would take hwy 120 over Tioga Pass. You will come out on hwy 395 and Mono Lake. That is well worth the stop as well. If you have time, plan a drive north toward Bridgeport and see Bodie State Park. An old ghost town and great place to visit the June Lake loop Night 7 mammoth Lake (cheap hotels due to off season). Take the bus to Devils Postpile Narional Park and a short hike. Driving down the 395 the short drive to Convict Lake is worth it. Rock Creek has some nice hiking and is a short side trip Bishop has some nice lakes up hwy 168 i would probably stay in either Bishop or Lone Pine stop at Mazanar HP and ask for a map at the Lone Pine Death Valley Vistors Center and check out Movie Road in the Alabama Hills since it will be hot, I would try to time my drive through Death Valley to stop in the early morning and late afternoon We usually stay at the Panamint resort but that is on the Lone Pine side other wise try Stove Pipe Wells (central) or Furnace Creek Ranch (east end) hotels in Beatty are cheap but a drive and some are dives You can get to Las Vegas from Death Valley easy Buy a National parks pass and stop at Badwater You will have seen a big variety of geological treasures and the highest and lowest points in the continuous US i have taken my boys to these places and we have enjoyed (of course we don't go in July but my Danish cousins love the heat)

From the above link: Average landscape size: Grows 6 to 8 ft. tall, 5 to 6 ft. wide in 10 years; slightly larger with age. It's not of course going to grow 7' tall in 10 years and then never get more than slightly larger afterward - there is nothing about one of these being only 10 years old that makes it suddenly start growing in tiny increments. And there doesn't seem to have been a huge difference between what has often been presented as "Compacta" on the market here in the past and the typical species - you are going to have a long wait for 20' in either case. It is true that recently I have seen some material that might in fact be more true to type 'Compacta'*, with small leaves, a small looking habit and a mere sprinkling of flowers. And the appearance of clonal uniformity - unlike the apparently sometimes seed raised material of the past, with mixed flower colors (some pink, some white) in the same blocks, other variation evident. *As described by one print reference I have here, at any rate